Halloween Treats: Part 1: Beyond Candy and Chocolates

My friends and I recently discussed switching things up from the usual candy bars and chewy candies that we hand out on Halloween (Don’t worry, I’ll talk about candy bars and candies in part 2.). Some of the alternatives that we talked about were mini water bottles, cereal bars, snack-size pastries, and cookies. Halloween is a big deal with total U.S. expected spending on the holiday to reach $10.6 billion in 2022 according to the National Retail Federation (NRF)’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Excitement for Halloween is especially high this year as participation returns to pre-pandemic levels. NRF found that 69% of consumers planned to celebrate Halloween this year, up from 65% in 2021 and 68% in 2019. Total spending on candy is expected to reach $3.1 billion, with 67% planning to hand out candy and 28% planning to throw/ attend a party according to NRF.

Marshmallows, Cereal Bars and Snack Mixes

Marshmallow lovers can pick up a bag of Stuffed Puffs Filled Marshmallows Monster Marsh (green marshmallows coated in orange, black & green sprinkles with real milk chocolate filling) from Stuffed Puffs, LLC. ?Or they can also grab a box of General Mills’ Golden Grahams Remix, S’more Snack Mix (box with 8 single-serve pouches) that combine Golden Grahams and Cocoa Puffs cereal with marshmallows. I brought Kellogg Co’s Rainbow Rice Krispies Treats with candy coated chocolate pieces crispy marshmallow squares (16 in a box) to my block party’s treats table but you can choose the Rice Krispies Treats Original Mini Squares (60 or 100 per box) that come in glow-in-the-dark Halloween-themed packaging.

Snack-size Pastries

Fans of Hostess Brands pastries can hand out new Hostess Bouncers Glazed Twinkies to trick or treaters or serve Hostess Bouncers Glazed Chocolate Ding Dongs adorned with gummy or candy eyeballs at their Halloween party. I decorated mine with Wilton Candy Eyeballs Basic Assorted Box and Pillsbury fluffy FROST Funfetti Vanilla Marshmallow Frosting from Hometown Food Company. The Hostess Bouncers (3 Bouncers inside each pouch) are snackable, poppable, shareable treat versions of the Hostess Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and Donnettes. Feel free to scatter your Halloween dessert tray (my 3-tier rectangle plate set with metal stand is from Gibson Homewares) with Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers Minis Dessert Toppers. The gummies from Ferrara Candy Company are designed to be placed on ice cream or cupcakes or eaten as is.

Cookies Please

Cookie lovers can go nostalgic with Dunkaroos (General Mills), the 90s snack containing cookies and frosting to dunk the cookies into. Or go even further back to childhood with Mother’s Limited Batch Eerie Critters Cookies featuring itty bitty frosted cookies shaped like bats and cats from The Ferrara Candy Company. The iconic Circus Animal Cookies date back to 1914. If you prefer OREO cookies for dunking, you can get the OREO Cookie Sticks ‘N Crème Dip Snack Packs from Mondelez International. Or go gourmet with the Loacker Mini single-serve variety pack of 40 individually wrapped, bite-sized crème-filled wafer minis in Hazelnut, Vanilla, and Chocolate flavors. The Loacker cookies are produced with Alpine milk in Unterinn/Auna di Sotto, Italy or in Heinfels, Austria.

Mini water bottles

I appreciated the neighbor who used to hand out limited-edition Halloween bottles of Nestlé Pure Life because I always forgot to pack a bottle of water when I would accompany my daughter during trick or treating. BlueTriton Brands (formerly known as Nestlé Waters North America) has created Pure Life’s limited edition Share-A-Scare packs although I wasn’t able to find the Halloween-themed bottles at my neighborhood supermarket.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where I will show you the candy bars and candy that I will be handing out on Halloween. I got to meet many of the treats companies at the Sweets & Snacks Expo and visited with Wilton Brands & Gibson Homewares at The Inspired Home Show.

Virginia Lee?is a food & drinks trendspotter & explorer, market researcher, writer and speaker. She advises global companies and startups on innovation and market entry opportunities. As a speaker, Virginia has presented on food, beverages, beauty & personal care, and CBD at CBD Expo, Flavors and Fragrances, Natural Products Expo East, and the PLMA Show. Connect with Virginia on Twitter and Instagram at @VirginiaALee.